Overtime
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: Variety of WxG stories, whether it's a one-shot or a two to three chapter one. Third chapter-William was uncertain how to react to Grell's odder than normal behavior, since the red headed reaper appeared to believe he was a cat.
1. Teeth

I'm putting any WilliamxGrell stories I come up with here, whether it's a one-shot or 2-3 chapters, mostly because I'm tired of starting a new story every time I get a new idea. For this chapter, I wrote it because I do wonder how William would act if he ever snapped from too much work.

Disclaimer: Kuroshitsuji is not mine.

-x-

Grell never gave much thought to whether William would ever snap. It just didn't seem like something that would ever happen to the calm and collected dark-haired shinigami. Grell supposed it could happen, with all of the stress that no doubt built up while William worked. From what Grell knew about the other man, he wondered why William hadn't snapped sooner. The redhead couldn't think of any way William would actually be able to relax and get rid of any built up tension.

In any case, Grell knew he shouldn't have been too surprised with what had happened. After all, he did cause William a lot of unneeded trouble. Grell just never thought that William would happen to choose to blow up at him.

-x

William closed the door to the Director's office, and walked back in the direction of his own office. Although William looked as calm as ever, on the inside, his nerves were shot. After his conversation with the director, his stress level had skyrocketed. William needed to get to his office and get into the relaxing feel of paperwork. Yes, he'd be fine after that. All he needed was a nice, relaxing atmosphere...

"William~!"

William halted his brisk walk, his high stress level bringing forth an irrational feeling of rage. William turned abruptly, and saw Grell flouncing toward him with a wide smile plastered on his face. William's scowl became more pronounced. Why did Grell always look so happy? He probably hadn't even finished his work for the day. William would wipe that smile of his face. He didn't have to be the only one in a bad mood.

-x

Grell had grown bored of paperwork relatively quickly that day, and had no fieldwork to do. After busily making a mess of his office supplies, Grell lost interest and left his office, deciding to go see William. Maybe he could make the day a little more interesting. Grell stopped in front of William's office door, and after not hearing the familiar sound of a pen to paper, poked his head inside the office. No one was inside. How strange. William almost never left his office, unless he were running an errand or going to tell other workers what to do.

Disappointed with not finding the man in his office, Grell decided to wander about headquarters in search of William. As Grell walked, he lamented aloud the fact that Will was avoiding him again that week. Perhaps he shouldn't have gone to see Sebastian the previous week. William hadn't spoken to him since after having dragged him all the way back to headquarters and dumping several weeks worth of paperwork on his desk. Grell sighed miserably at the thought, knowing that mostly all of that paperwork was still waiting for him to go through. Grell perked up when he found the other reaper a few minutes later, walking down the hall back to his office. Grell backtracked and moved toward William as he called out a greeting, "William~!" Maybe he'd see if William would finally go out to dinner with him. He had been asking for the past several months after all. Maybe Will would finally say yes...

As William turned around, the smile on Grell's face faded a little, as did thoughts of going out to dinner. William looked very unhappy. No, scratch that. William looked downright furious to see him there. Grell stopped mid step, rethinking the idea of throwing himself at William, which had been his original plan. He didn't want to chance being hit with William's deathscythe, which the man would no doubt use if Grell were to try and latch himself onto him. Grell wanted to ask what was wrong, but the look on William's face kept him quiet for once.

William didn't bother allowing Grell the chance to explain why he was there and why he wasn't in his office, working. Instead, all of the frustration and pent up stress was released in a vicious tirade directed at the red-head, who held perfectly still, obviously in shock that William was yelling at him. "Grell Sutcliff, why aren't you in your office working? You hardly get any work done! You are lazy and incompetent, leaving your messes for me to clean up! You are an insufferable nuisance, and I do not know how much longer I can tolerate it! Why are you even here if you aren't always working, and playing around instead?" William took a breath, before continuing, laying out every little thing Grell did wrong to how disruptive he was. William finished with, "If you bother me without finishing your work, you will regret it." With a cold glare, William headed in the direction of his office.

-x

Grell stood rooted to the spot, stock-still as he watched William walk away, no doubt still very agitated by the look of his shoulders. Grell remained where he was, wondering what on earth had just happened. William's words were slowly starting to sink in, making Grell's previous good mood vanish, to be replaced with one of utter misery. He couldn't remember William being so furious that he'd lay out all that he had done wrong, as well as adding some very heartless comments, that he knew had nothing with not completing work. Grell understood playing hooky to avoid work and going to see Sebastian was frowned upon, but what did his looks have to do with work? Grell tried to block out the other comments William had made and bit his lip lightly, wondering what the chances were that William wouldn't get angrier if he were to run away and go home for the rest of the day. Grell sighed. William would probably go and drag him back and yell at him some more.

Grell managed to shake off some of his shock, and headed for his own office. As he walked, Grell pondered how quickly it would take to get through the paperwork. It would most likely take him most of the week and that would give William more opportunities to find something else to be unhappy with him about. Grell hadn't been walking for very long before he realized that William was headed in his direction. In his distracted state, Grell hadn't realized that he had been moving around in a big circle, after William, and had changed directions unconsciously. Grell dropped his gaze immediately, and went by William in silence, struggling to keep himself walking as calmly as possible, even though what he really wanted to do was run.

Unfortunately for Grell, his attempt to remain discreet drew William's attention.

William had hoped to get to his office without anything to draw forth his irrational reactions, but the sight of Grell not looking at him or even saying anything, caught his attention. It hadn't even occurred to William that the redhead had been trying to do as he had suggested. Which had been telling William telling Grell to be more quiet when he was in the hallways and talking to other shinigami. As William hadn't quite calmed himself down yet, he stopped Grell with a sharp, "Sutcliff!" He was very suspicious of Grell's current actions, and wanted to make sure he was very clear with the red-head.

Grell cringed at the tone and halted, turning around, worried. What could William possibly say to make things worse? He was trying to get to his office, and William was no doubt going to think that he had been trying to leave.

William waited until he made eye contact, before questioning the cringing red-head, "What are you up to?" It had crossed William's mind that Grell might try and slink off, away from headquarters. He wouldn't have thought that Grell would dare come near him after the scolding he had just given him.

Grell forced himself to keep eye contact, and spoke in a quiet, subdued voice, "I...I was going to go do paperwork, you said..."

William cut him off before he could say more, "Grell, if you even think about trying to leave without getting your work done..."

"But William! I..."

William ignored Grell's attempt to speak and continued on as if he hadn't heard him, "If you go to that demon, and it happened to get rid of you, it would be a relief. If you're not going to do your work and play with that thing instead, I shouldn't care very much if he ripped your head off." William broke off, ignoring the shock and hurt that had appeared on the other reaper's face as he mused aloud, "That would, however, give me even more work to deal with. As such, I would advise against leaving before you've made some progress in your paperwork. I..."

Before William could finish, Grell turned suddenly and ran away in the direction of his office, eyes tearing up at William's blunt and vicious words. Grell entered his office and closed the door, hoping that William wouldn't go after him. Grell didn't think he could take much more. Why was William being so ruthless to him today? What did he do? Did William really want him gone? Was he really that much trouble?

William watched Grell return to the office, and, seeing the red-head shut the door, turned and went to his own office. He was unaware that Grell was currently crying and feeling utterly miserable.

-x

Inside his office, Grell was feeling useless as he stared at the mountain load of paperwork sitting on his desk. Brushing away some tears, Grell removed his fake eyelashes, figuring he didn't need them at the moment if he were going to cry on and off. Stowing them away, Grell slid out of his red coat and hung it up in the corner of the room. With a sigh, Grell sat down on the desk and pulled the nearest stack of paperwork toward him. This was going to take him a long time to get through. Grell started to write, deciding that William might not be as mad at him if he got all his paperwork done. Grell's eyes closed momentarily. William's words still hurt, and Grell wondered to himself if getting the paperwork done would be enough...

One day later.

Ronald Knox had snuck out of work early, thinking about talking to Grell about a party another section of work had planned for that night. He had wanted to ask about it yesterday, but seeing that Grell was actually working, Ron hadn't wanted to bother him. Assuming that Grell would be distracted now from the paperwork, the younger shinigami headed for Grell's office. Ronald was about to knock, when he paused in confusion. From what he could hear, it sounded like Grell was still working. Ronald blinked. That was odd. He'd have thought Grell would have gotten bored with it by now. Ron opened the door a bit and peered inside.

At the interruption, Grell glanced up over his glasses at the other reaper briefly. Seeing who it was, Grell's eyes dropped back to the sheet he was writing on, speaking in a terse and stressed tone, "What do you want?"

Ronald decided that asking about the party wasn't the smartest idea, and instead questioned, "Did you get any sleep last night?" The irritable glare thrown his was was rather surprising, mostly because it was a look William would normally give. Had Grell really stayed up all night?

"Go away, I'm busy. I need to get this paperwork done." Grell said after a moment, when Ron hadn't moved from next to the door. Grell didn't bother looking up at the other reaper, though he would have seen Ron's rather perplexed expression had he done so, "Close the door when you leave." Grell said distractedly, as he set aside a piece of paper and grabbed a file.

Ronald shut the door, baffled. He didn't know what to make of what had just occurred. Ronald left headquarters quickly, not wanting to be caught by William and questioned. He was going to the party tonight and he wasn't going to be saddled with overtime assignments. He wasn't missing this party for anything. He had heard it was supposed to be a really big gathering.

Two and a half days later.

Ronald Knox was simply amazed. Grell was still working in his office. Ron had spoken to some of the other shinigami, and it sounded like Grell hadn't been getting any sleep in the last three and a half days. Ron had gone to the party at night, after he had first checked on Grell, and knew he was treading dangerous ground if William happened to catch sight of him. William was still prowling around the workspace, trying to corner the younger shinigami. The reason? William had happened upon the party, and had crashed it, managing to send upset reapers to go off and do work. Ronald had managed to get away, though he knew that William had seen him. After a quick glance in either direction, Ron saw that no one was in sight. Ronald cautiously opened the door to Grell's office, remembering that some of the office workers that had picked up paperwork for Grell had mentioned that Grell looked as if he were ready to lash out at anyone disturbing him. Ronald would take that chance over running into a frowning William.

Once inside the office, Ronald saw that there was little paperwork left. Turning his attention to Grell, Ron could see that red-head looked absolutely exhausted, glasses set aside, as he wrote away on the pieces of paper before him. Not getting any kind of acknowledgment of his presence, Ron spoke up in a concerned tone, "You know, you should really get some sleep. It's not good for you if you don't get enough rest. You might make mistakes." Ronald swiftly backed out of the room and hid behind the door, as Grell had thrown several sharp objects in his direction. They bounced harmlessly against the door.

"Stay OUT! I'm very busy and I want to get this done! I don't need any more interruptions! Close the door and leave me alone!" Grell snapped angrily. Why was it that he was so close to being done, and people just happened to show up and break his momentum? Grell picked up a sharp pair of scissors and fixed his gaze on Ron's position behind the door. Maybe he could get the scissors through the wooden door...

Ronald Knox shut the door with a click and walked away swiftly, not wanting to chance getting hit with any sharp objects. It was lucky, because he heard a thunk and a slight crack, and, glancing over his shoulder, saw the tip of a scissor sticking out of the door. Ronald laughed nervously. The other workers weren't kidding. Ron slowed his walk, marveling at the startling change that had come over Grell in the past few days. What had happened to cause that change and make him act that way? There had to be a reason...

Ron was so lost in thought that he nearly walked right into William, who was wearing a disproving frown. Ron stopped short of bumping into William and spoke quickly, hoping to get William to avoid scolding him about the party. It hadn't exactly been work appropriate, after all, "Do you know what's wrong with Sutcliff, sir?" Ron watched in surprise as William's frown deepened, and he stalked off in the direction of Grell's office, muttering something about incompetent workers. Ronald quickly put himself between William and the door, flinching only a little at the cold glare he received from William, "Ah, well, you see, for the past three days, Sutcliff's been doing paperwork." _'And getting angrier every day whenever anyone bothers him.'_ Ronald thought to himself.

William blinked, his expression turning into one of faint surprise, "Then what is wrong with him?" Was it actually possible for Grell to focus that much and get work done? While he doubted it, it would be nice if Grell were actually starting to be a bit more responsible.

"He hasn't slept in over 72 hours, and the paperwork's almost done...but Grell looked like he was ready to lash out and injure someone," Ron paused, then added, "Grell threw several sharp objects at me, just now, including scissors, when I suggested that he really should get some sleep."

William frowned at this. At the moment, he was unaware that his anger-laced outburst days earlier was the cause of Grell's behavior, "Stay here. I'll go and speak with him." Seeing the other man nod, William walked around him and knocked on the door. He pointedly ignored the scissors sticking out of the door, though he vaguely wondered how much force Grell had put behind the throw to get it lodged into the door.

On the other side of the door, there was a heavy sigh and an exasperated, "Come in."

William opened the door and entered the small office, closing the door behind him. He and Grell stared at one another in silence. It was at that point that William didn't know exactly what to say. Ronald had been right. The paperwork was nearly finished.

Grell looked away first, acting indifferently to the other man's presence, "What do you want?" Of all the people to come into the room, why did it have to be William? Grell paused in writing. William...Grell's eyes glanced up at William, and Grell ground his teeth a bit. It was William's fault that he was feeling so furious. It was William's fault that he had been in his office for who knows how long. It was William's fault...it was...his fault...Grell dropped his pen and stood abruptly, picking up his deathscythe as he did. He'd teach William not to treat a lady so horribly. He would make sure that he got his point across. A crazed smile found its way onto Grell's face.

Meanwhile, William was preoccupied that Grell had addressed him in such a way, "Grell Sutcliff, you will address me properly. I will not tolerate any..." William stopped talking abruptly and held up his own death scythe, when he noticed that Grell had stood up with his chainsaw, "Grell, put that away, now."

Grell merely laughed as he drew closer to William, crazed smile more prominent, "Why should I? And why should I bother listening to _you_, when you were so rude to me earlier in the week?"

The angry outburst came back to him, and William realized that he hadn't really meant all of those harsh comments. He would have to worry about that later, as he was currently more concerned that a sleep deprived Grell was closing in on him with the chainsaw on and laughing maniacally as he swung it. William countered the attack with his own deathscythe, and the force of the blow made him stumble backwards, back hitting the nearest office wall. Inwardly cursing the small office for being a bad place for a fight, William diverted Grell's scythe's path again, leaping to one side to give himself some more room. Unfortunately, Grell kept up, pushing him back toward another wall. Before his back could hit it, William pivoted and put the desk between himself and Grell. It would have probably slowed the red-head down, had Grell not been so angry.

William twisted his scythe as Grell jumped onto the desk and swung the chainsaw down heavily. William countered, catching the brunt of the blow, and, before Grell could do any more, manged to force the deathscythe out of Grell's grasp. At the same time, William lost his grip on his own deathscythe. William sidestepped Grell, and grabbed him from behind, his right arm snaking around Grell's throat in a choke hold, his left hand trapping Grell's left arm against his side.

Grell growled angrily, attempting to free himself, unable to form any words as he struggled wildly.

"Grell! Stop it!" William snapped, "Listen to me! I have my reasons for what happened the other day!" Why wasn't Grell listening?

Grell, however, merely increased his struggling, not listening, only intent on escape. Grell writhed in William's grasp, until he got the angle right. Without a moment's notice, Grell sank his teeth deeply into William's right forearm.

William felt a sharp pain, accompanied by a crunching sound. William knew that it wasn't a good sign when he couldn't feel his right hand, or beneath the elbow, for that matter. William saw the back of Grell's head leaning over the arm he had used to put the red-head in a choke hold. William blinked, disbelieving. Had Grell just bitten him? The pain was sharp, and William wasn't sure what to do to get Grell to let go without causing more damage. William supposed that he could pull Grell's hair, though he really didn't want Grell to grind his teeth...that wouldn't be good...but he couldn't think of anything else that might get Grell's attention and bring him back into reality. William let go of Grell's left arm, and wrapped his uninjured hand into Grell's hair tightly, near the back of the head. Taking a deep, steadying breath, William yanked the hair sharply, wincing when it caused Grell to bite a little more deeply. It had the desired effect.

Grell blinked, snapping back into the real world when he heard a quiet moan of pain from William. Grell blinked again, realizing from the taste of blood that he was biting William's forearm, rather deeply. Grell carefully dislodged his teeth from the arm, wincing at the damage done. He didn't remember biting William.

William felt Grell release his arm, and backed away from the red-head, toward the desk. The dark-haired shinigami sat down, resting his back against the desk, cradling his right arm against his chest. William knew he would most likely slip into shock, and hoped that Grell or Ronald, standing outside the office, would have enough sense to go get help. William really wanted his newly acquired injury to be treated as soon as possible.

Ronald Knox had picked that moment to venture inside to check on the situation. He had heard what sounded like a fight, but he hadn't wanted to interfere with it, unsure if he would get caught up in it. Seeing what had happened, Ron spoke, "Should I go get help?"William didn't respond, possibly due to shock setting in, otherwise Ron would have gotten an annoyed glare for stating the obvious. Grell, after hearing Ron's voice, made a faint sound, before rushing out of the office.

"I...I'll be back..."

Ronald later learned that Grell had been washing his mouth out and trying not to retch at the thought of what he had done.

Grell returned to his office a few minutes later, to find Ron trying to coax William into standing up. Grell hovered in the background, nervously waiting for William to scold him. If he deserved to be yelled at, now was the time to do so.

Instead of scolding, however, William glanced up and over at Grell. With a pained grimace, he spoke, "Does this...make us even?"

Grell let out a helpless laugh, shaking his head, "I'm sorry, Will. I was just trying to get the work done. I wasn't thinking..."

William was about to respond, when he heard movement outside the office. The door opened, and his eyes widened slightly, "Grell!"

"Look out!" Ronald added. Several other shinigami had apparently heard Grell's chainsaw roar to life.

Grell let out a surprised gasp as he was dragged backwards a bit, two other reapers having seized his arms. A few shinigami crowded into the office, one kneeling down next to William to check on him. Grell wasn't really listening to what they were saying, more focused on that he was being held rather tightly and it hurt. Grell tried saying "Let go of me!" but every time he did so the two shinigami tightened their grasp. Why were they holding onto him anyway? Did they think that he had snapped and was going to attack again? Well...he had snapped, but only for a little while.

Ronald noticed that the other reapers were getting agitated, and once the reaper checking on William announced that he had gotten his injury from Grell, there was an uproar. Ronald even saw a few of them holding onto their deathscythes, looking very unhappy about the announcement.

William, despite being in pain and not really feeling well, managed to grab onto the nearest reaper, keeping him from going toward Grell, "I'll deal with him." Even William, in his injured state, could tell that things were starting to get out of hand.

Grell had been concerned when a lot of angry eyes were looking at him, but became a little surprised when the anger simmered down to disappointment when William spoke. What the dark-haired man had said, Grell didn't know, as he had spoken rather quietly. Seeing Ronald's outraged expression didn't make much sense to him either, but it didn't matter. Grell felt something strike him rather heavily over the head seconds later, and felt himself go limp in the grasp of the two other shinigami. What had just hit him? Another sharp crack hit the back of his head, and Grell didn't have to worry about anything as he was knocked unconscious amidst angry voices and arguing.

-x

When Grell came to, he realized that he was at home, in his bedroom. Grell lay still, trying to figure out what had happened and what had gotten him from headquarters to his home. Giving up on that momentarily, he tilted his head, and found William was in his bedroom as well, dozing on a chair. Grell would have been thinking something along the lines of hitting on William while he slept, but the sight of the other man's bandaged arm stopped him. Staring guiltily at the white bandages, Grell wondered if he were going to get into trouble for biting William. Grell sat up in bed stiffly, one hand going to the back of his head, where it was throbbing a little bit. Right...he had been restrained...there had been arguing...and someone had hit him over the head twice...but, why didn't it hurt more?

William heard Grell moving around, and opened his eyes. Seeing Grell's confused look, William spoke, "You've been asleep for nearly a week. You're lucky that you're not more injured, as some of the other reapers felt that they wanted to retaliate more than to just knock you out."

Grell sighed miserably, "I'm going to be punished, aren't I?"

William stared at Grell, "Since you've gotten caught up on your paperwork and sleep, you will assist me until my arm recovers," William looked off to the side, "I can't write at the moment. Not for at least a month."

Grell groaned at the thought of more paperwork, but nodded in agreement, since he had been the one to cause the injury. If that was all he was being punished with, then he would take it.

William appeared to hesitate, before adding, in what he hoped was a casual tone, "I will also need some assistance getting my outfit on in the morning and off in the evening..." William froze in his seat when he saw Grell get up of the bed with a wide smile. He held still as Grell circled him, before Grell leaned up against the back of the chair and wrapped him in a half-hug.

"Do you only need help with your clothing, or do you need help with your baths as well?" Grell asked teasingly.

William thought, as Grell let go and came in front of him, if perhaps he should have taken a few days off and had a nurse look after him.

Grell tut-tutted, as if he could read William's mind, and planted a kiss on William's cheek before the other could stop him. Leaning forward, Grell whispered close to William's ear, "If I wore a nurse's outfit, would you let me take care of you?"

"Absolutely not." William responded instantly.

Grell laughed at the vehement response, and stood back, pulling William up off the chair, "You should go home and get some rest before you go back to work."

William was not in agreement with this and held back his annoyance as Grell practically dragged him home. There really wasn't much he could do with only one functional arm, and fighting off a determined Grell wasn't something he could do at the moment. At the house, William attempted to change into his suit, in no mood to listen to reason. Grell, however, wouldn't hear of it, and followed after him in the room, managing to get a nightshirt on him. Grell's eyes twinkled mischievously as he managed to change William's pants as well.

William soon lay on his bed, surprised and frustrated with himself for allowing Grell to order him around in his own home. And how exactly had Grell managed to get him into his clothing without a lot of fuss?

Grell grinned at William from a nearby chair, legs crossed, "Want to play a game, Will~?"

There was something in the way he said it that should have been suspicious for William, but he was tired, and decided to humor Grell for the moment, "What is it?" If it would distract him from thinking about the position he was in, William would allow it, for now. When he saw Grell start to smile, William started to regret speaking.

Grell's grin widened as he placed a nurse's hat that he had found onto his head. Standing up off the chair, Grell all but crawled onto the bed, "I play a nurse and you're my willing patient~."

William sighed and closed his eyes, deciding that sleep actually sounded like a good idea once he felt a hand splay across his chest. Although, the next day William knew he was going to be having Grell do paperwork for him, so for now, maybe he would play a little.

-x-

Interpret the ending however you like. I couldn't think of how else to end it. On a side note, I never thought about whether William was right or left handed. I didn't pay attention if there were any signs in the manga or anime. Oh well. I wasn't in the mood to type another chapter of Rain Noir at the moment, so I typed up this, and feel a lot better for some reason. I'll add new chapters to this when I have something to add to it. I am open to ideas, but I have a few scribbled down in a notebook. Like a chesirecat!Grell and William one-shot, because I feel like it after seeing the ova.

For now, I'll try and update my other stories.


	2. Confined Space

Thanks for the reviews! For this chapter, I'm pretending that William has a closet in his office full of suits (in case Grell comes in and messes up what he's wearing or something XP).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kuroshitsuji.

-x-

William could sense it. And he was very displeased with the what he was feeling. It was as if he were being watched by something, though he could see no one in his office. It had been like this for most of the day. In fact, William had felt it ever since he had entered his office that morning. It was the unshakable feeling that he was being observed. For what purpose, William couldn't discern. At least it wasn't a demonic aura, otherwise he'd be tearing up his office to locate it. Since it wasn't...whatever it might be, William wasn't about to let himself be distracted from his work. He would work diligently until he had finished for the day. After that, William would check on what the source of the unnerving feeling could be, after he had gotten as much work done as he could. Unlike some other worker William knew...

William frowned, adjusting his glasses as he paused in his writing. Speaking of _that_, he didn't recall seeing Sutcliff that day, and it was nearly 5 o' clock in the evening. William scowled ever so slightly. That nuisance had better not be slacking off again, because then that would mean more overtime. William sighed, and went back to scribbling notes on a spare sheet of paper. He'd deal with the red-head later, especially if the slacking fool gave him unneeded hours of work.

William worked for another two hours, before being satisfied that he had gotten a sufficient amount done. The feeling of being watched still dogged him, but the dark-haired reaper chalked it up to built up stress and a lot of recent overtime. It didn't have to mean anything. It could just mean he was tired. William put out the lights in his office, ready to leave, when a slight thumping sound came from his office. William paused in the doorway, and heard the sound again, this time louder, and something that sounded suspiciously like a muffled cry for help.

Twitch. With a slight sense of dread at what he might find (because he had a pretty good idea of what he would find) William edged into his office slowly, lighting a nearby lamp that lit up the room in a soft glow. William looked around, and his eyes were drawn to the closet he kept in his office, off in one corner. William heard the thumping sound again, this time a bit more loudly. And it was coming from within the closet. William rested a hand on the handle of the closet. Was this what he had been sensing for the whole day? William opened the closet door, and found himself staring down at a teary-eyed Grell, who was bound and gagged and looked absolutely miserable.

The two shinigami stared at one another for a few moments, before William brought one hand up to rub at one of his temples. Why was it that he always found Grell in either precarious (i.e.: nearly being killed by Sebastian) or in just very strange predicaments, like now? He should have known that something was amiss when Grell hadn't bothered to interrupt his work earlier in the day. William left out a sigh and stared at Grell a moment longer, before speaking, "Grell Sutcliff...what are you doing in my closet?" Muffled sounds of reminded William that Grell had been gagged. Shaking his head lightly, William reached down and rid Grell of the gag, looking at the red head expectantly. He had better have a good excuse for being in his closet. William wondered why Grell hadn't tried it before...but it didn't explain how he came to be tied up.

Grell saw William's frown, and, hoping that he wouldn't be left where he was, explained why he was where he was, "Well, you see, Will, I had gone to visit Sebas-chan this morning, before I came in for work," Seeing the frown on the other man's face deepen, Grell hastily continued, "I got into a _bit_ of a disagreement with him, and he decided to tie me up." Grell smiled a little as William went back to massaging now both of his temples, "Now, now Will~. Normally I wouldn't say no to being tied up by a handsome man, but not when I get taken and stuffed into a closet and gagged." Grell shrank against the back of the closet as William's frown turned into a scowl.

That demon had been in his office? How had he gotten here without any of the other shinigami taking notice? William would have thought that a demon carrying around a bound employee would have aroused some suspicion. William put the question to Grell, "How did that demon get into my office?"

Grell gave a tiny shrug, "I was unconscious. I only woke up when Sebastian was gagging me and shutting me in this closet."

William went back to frowning again, and resolved to make it harder for that demon to get into headquarters. William fixed his gaze on Grell, and, seeing the other's pleading expression, William sighed again, and knelt down to undo the ropes that bound the other. The dark-haired reaper talked as he went about his task, "Why didn't you try and get my attention earlier? I can't imagine that the closet is very comfortable."

Grell wriggled free of the rest of the rope, and stretched out as much as he was able to. Smiling, Grell scooted forward and draped his arms over William's shoulders, as the man was still kneeling on the ground. Ignoring William stiffening at the sudden contact, Grell secured his left arm around the back of William's neck, pulling himself closer, and dropping his right hand to trail along William's chest lightly, "Hmm~I didn't want to say anything earlier because I knew Will doesn't like being interrupted while he's working~."

As Grell's right hand went to wrap around William's waist, said shinigami tensed further, "If you knew that, then why don't you stop bothering me while I'm working other days?"

Grell settled comfortably against William, "But Will, you like it when I show up. I can tell, you know. A woman's intuition is never wrong~. You just don't want to admit it," Grell wore a sneaky smile, "You are done for the day, aren't you?"

That brought William out of his thoughts, and he started to try and free himself from the red-head, sensing ulterior motives. With a sudden movement, William found himself being forced into the closet, legs bent across to the other side of the small enclosed space. Before William could even protest, Grell had climbed into the closet and made himself at home on William's lap, dropping his head forward to rest against William's shoulder, sighing happily.

William shifted his legs a bit in order to make room for Grell, as he didn't want his shins to become victims of Grell's heels. It would more than likely hurt, even if the angle Grell was in didn't really allow for the heels to step on his thighs.

Grell titled his head so that he could grin at William, "You're coming into work early tomorrow, right? Why not just stay here for the night?"

William wanted to protest again, but Grell merely reached over and closed the two of them in the closet. William heard a click, and sighed. He had forgotten about that. William seized Grell's wrists and held onto them, in order to prevent Grell's hands from wandering around in the dark, "You do realize that the closet doesn't open from the inside, correct?"

"Yes~." Was Grell's all too cheerful response. With a little difficulty, he managed to free his hands, and slid them up under William's suit, grinning when he heard William's breath hitch. Grell slid his hands up and down, trailing little patterns along William's sides, before one hand went and started to undo the white shirt's buttons.

William, feeling what Grell was up to, decided to put a stop to it before Grell could get too far. William managed to get Grell's hands out from beneath his suit, and, ignoring Grell's unhappy sigh, turned in the confined space, making it so that Grell was on his side, pushed up against the door of the closet.

"William~what are you doing?" Grell tired to turn over to try and see what William was doing, even though not much light was coming in through to the closet doors. Grell held still when he felt William lay down behind him, both their legs having to scrunch up in order to fit in the small space. Grell wiggled a bit, smirking when William twitched in response. Grell lost his smile, which was accompanied by a slight squeak of surprise when William's arm wrapped around his waist. When he got over his surprise, Grell started to smile, and all but cooed in a sweet tone, "Ah~Will~. Are you hugging me~? You're so sweet." Grell let out a small grunt of pain when William thwacked him over the head with a hand.

"I'm just keeping you from being inappropriate in my office, Sutcliff." William trapped Grell against his chest, to ensure that he couldn't move around freely. William felt Grell wriggle unhappily, but kept his grip until the red headed reaper relaxed.

With a light sigh, Grell settled his head on the ground and closed his eyes. William was being no fun, but at least he was getting to sleep close to him, "Good-night, William~."

William waited until Grell drifted off, before he allowed himself to fall asleep, seeing no point in staying awake.

-x

William awoke suddenly when he heard the office door open, and then the sound of the closet being opened. William stood up as soon as the closet had been opened. Unfortunately, William had forgotten all about Grell, and the other man had moved in the night, having turned over and wrapped his arms around him. So, instead of stepping out of the closet in a dignified manner, William fell out of the closet and onto his back, Grell sprawled on top of him.

"Good morning." Ronald Knox stated, looking down at the two shinigami on the ground. He had to try very hard not to laugh at the sight, "The director had wanted to speak to you today, but..."

That got William moving. Not listening to the rest of Ronald's sentence, William unceremoniously dumped Grell to the ground as he struggled upright. William managed to take two steps toward the door, before Grell grabbed his legs, halting his progress.

"Don't leave me!"

"Let go of me now, Sutcliff!"

Watching the exchange between the two, the younger reaper backed away toward the door with a smile, "The director said he wanted to talk to you, but tomorrow, not today. I'll leave you two alone."

"Thanks Ron!" Grell called from the ground, though the tone was laced with some pain, as William had just stepped on his face, in an attempt to make him lose his grip.

Ronald Knox watched in interest as Grell succeeded in dragging William back onto the ground and wrapping him in a very tight hug. Ronald shut the door, and walked down the hall. He wondered how long it would take William to escape. Oh well. Ronald grinned. As for him, he was heading to a party, and if William was occupied, then he wouldn't have to worry about being caught.

William, meanwhile, was trapped on the ground, as Grell had latched onto him, and didn't seem willing to let go anytime soon. William was about to demand that Grell let go of him, when Grell, with a smile, leaned down and kissed him, successfully catching William off guard.

"Grell!"

Grell grinned, but didn't say anything, instead choosing to play with William's buttons again, while also thwarting William's attempts at sitting up.

"..."

"Sutcliff! Watch where you're putting those hands!"

Grell smiled sweetly down at the other reaper, "Do you mean here~?"

"...Stop that!"

"No~."

"..."

Ronald would later learn, after returning from his party, that Grell had now decided to make it a habit to follow William around and drag him off into the nearest room for a quick make out session, before William would go to do his work like nothing had happened.

-x-

Random chapter ending is random. I apologize if there are any typos. I'm starting to update again. After this, I'll update Rain Noir, then some of my other stories. The next chapter for this one will be the cheshirecat!Grell one, since I wrote most of it already.


	3. Grinning Cat Part 1

This was written back in the fall of 2011 but I decided it needed some work before it was posted. Kind of silly, but the idea came from the two Ciel in Wonderland OVAs (the Cheshire Cat parts).

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

X-x-x

It was a great day. No, it was a wonderful day in the shinigami realm. It was especially so for one shinigami in particular as he headed to work.

Ronald Knox was quite pleased with himself. Not only had he managed to get his work done early the day before, he had also managed to get to a late night party, which he thoroughly enjoyed. As an unexpected bonus, Ronald had even gotten to go home with one of the secretaries. And here he was the next day, able to arrive to work much earlier than he needed to. Ronald wanted to make sure that he hadn't missed any paperwork. He didn't want to give Mr. Spears any reason to scold him for going to a party. There was absolutely no way Ronald would be getting overtime today, especially not when the secretary had made it clear that she wanted to see him again soon.

Ronald grinned to himself, mind alight with ideas of where he could take that lovely lady out to dinner tonight after work. He opened the door to the employee lounge, but stopped short of entering it, somewhat confused. There no one in the room, like there normally should have been. There wasn't even the telltale sound of murmuring voices. Perplexed, Ronald entered the lounge cautiously, allowing his senses to drift, to see if there was any trouble…but there was nothing. Ronald couldn't sense anything except other shinigami in the building. Ronald relaxed visibly, and decided that he must have arrived to work much earlier than he had originally thought. There wasn't any reason he should be so nervous. Ronald was about to turn and leave the lounge to go check up on his paperwork, when _it_ happened.

"It" being a sudden, red-blurred object ramming into Ronald's side roughly, and the momentum with which he was struck knocked the younger reaper down to the ground.

Ronald, though winded from the blow, had enough sense to roll away from his attacker, whipping out a switchblade as he did, his back against the side of a nearby couch. Ronald gulped down a few breaths of air, holding the blade forward threateningly. Ronald's sight, however, was met with not an enemy, but a grinning Grell, who was sprawled out on the ground in front of him. Ronald frowned, but slowly put the blade away. He didn't want to cut Grell accidentally, whether or not Grell meant any harm, because Ronald knew that Grell would injure him more than he had in return; more so if Grell got hit anywhere on the face. Ronald shuddered. He didn't want to think about what Grell would do to him if that actually happened. It wouldn't be very pleasant, that was for sure. "Mr. Sutcliff? What are you doing here so early?" _And why did you just knock me over? _Ronald thought to himself sourly, observing the other reaper. He knew that Grell was weird, but he didn't think that Grell would actually hurt him on purpose, even if he didn't exactly like him. Unless Grell had good reason to, Ronald mused, as he stared at his senior as he waited for a reply.

Instead of a worded response, Ronald received what sounded like a purr, which made Ronald more wary of Grell's mental stability.

Ronald stared hard at Grell for a few moments, wondering if his senpai was making fun of him, when he spotted something that he hadn't noticed before. There were cat ears poking out of Grell's hair, and there was a checkered tail swaying back and forth lazily through the air. Were they real or fake? Ronald let out a grunt as Grell suddenly leapt at him and tackled him again, knocking him onto his back this time. Ronald heard Grell make what sounded like a playful growl and the two-toned haired reaper wasn't sure whether he should be scared or not. What was going on? Ronald was utterly confused as to why Grell was suddenly acting like this, or how Grell had somehow, miraculously, sprouted cat ears and a tail.

Ronald was distracted from his musings as Grell nuzzled his head against Ronald's chest, pawing at the younger shinigami's suit with his hand curled. Ronald let out a strangled yelp of surprise as Grell lowered his head and nuzzled the blond' stomach with his nose once the clothing had rode up a bit from the pawing. Ronald tired to push Grell away, but only succeeded in coming into contact with the cat ears. Ronald couldn't help but feel them. They were very soft to the touch, and, giving it a light tug, Ronald determined that they were, in fact, real. Grell leaned into the touch, overbalancing Ronald and causing him to fall back down onto the ground, Grell nuzzling his stomach once more. "S…s…stop it…tickles…"

A series of giggles sounded, which ended up turning into a full blown hysterical fit of laughter and a gasping of air, "O…Oh my! What's this? Hee hee~. A make-out session at work, hmm? Whatever would William think~?"

Ronald tilted his head to the side, as he was now using his arms in an attempt to keep Grell at bay, and saw that Undertaker was nearby, seated on a chair and grinning widely at the sight. When had he gotten there? Ronald hadn't even sensed him. Nor Grell, for that matter.

Undertaker tilted his head, and, still grinning like the world would end if he didn't, spoke, making no attempt to try and save Ronald from his predicament, "I found him like that, wandering the streets of London. Since I wasn't busy, I brought him here. It's probably safer for him with the state of mind he is in." Undertaker started to laugh again as Grell managed to get Ronald's suit and white dress shirt to ride up higher to better rub his cheek against Ronald's chest, making louder purring like sounds.

Ronald shivered at the skin on skin contact, and continued to vainly try and defend himself from Grell's sudden display of affection. Ronald failed miserably with the way he was pinned on the ground, and managed to stutter at Undertaker as Grell pawed his belt, "Wh…what do you mean?"

Undertaker indicated the ears and tail on the happy Grell, who was basically molesting the younger reaper, "I believe that Grell thinks he is a cat, and is responding in that way. He does seem to recognize you though. I was waiting for someone to show up, so I'll take my leave now. I'll call if there is anything that will fix him~." Undertaker rose smoothly from the chair and swept out of the lounge, leaving Ronald to fend for himself against Grell, who had somehow managed to paw his belt off and was pawing lower now, making Ronald twice as embarrassed.

Ronald leaned his head back as Grell abruptly moved his head higher and nuzzled the younger reaper beneath the chin. Gently but firmly, Ronald was finally able to push Grell off of him, "Mr. Sutcliff, stay right here, got it?" Ronald reached over and patted the nearest couch. To Ronald's immense relief, Grell sprang lightly up onto it and curled up slightly, "Okay, stay there. I'll go and get Mr. Spears." Grell made a half-growl, half-purr sound as Ronald turned and fled from the lounge. Ronald straightened out his suit, and hitched his pants back up into place, blushing faintly as he headed for William's office. Ronald wondered just how he was going to best break the news of Grell's odder than normal behavior and appearance.

No matter what way Ronald chose to inform him, William was not going to be happy in the least bit with Grell's predicament.

x-x

William had come into work very early that day, as he fully intended to get his work finished without being interrupted. It would be a rare occurrence if that happened, but not outside the realm of possibility. William was just about ready to wrap up the current stack of forms before him, when a series of quick, desperate knocks sounded on the door. William looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing. Who could that be, and so early in the morning at that? "Come in."

Ronald entered the room, looking a little hesitant, and almost looked a little guilty.

Slightly suspicious at how nervous the other reaper appeared to be, William waited for him to speak and state why he had interrupted him. He was on a schedule, after all, and didn't want many interruptions today, so Ronald had better have something important to say. William's frown and suspicions grew when the younger shinigami failed to say anything, and merely fidgeted. Giving a light shake of his head and withholding a sigh, William spoke tonelessly, "Yes, what is it Ronald Knox?"

Ronald started, seeing William staring at him, the older reaper's eyes all but demanding an explanation, "Ah! Well…I don't know how to say this, but…sir…it's Mr. Sutcliff. Undertaker brought him here. To the employee lounge…'cause someone needed to watch him…er…could you come with me, sir?"

William blinked at Ronald stumbling over his words. Wondering what Grell had done this time to cause trouble, William stood up stiffly and walked over to the office door, "…Let's go then." The sooner he dealt with this, the sooner he could get back to work and hope that he would avoid overtime by the end of the day.

Ronald nodded in agreement, looking very relieved, and led the way out of the office. Ronald headed toward the employee lounge, speaking as he walked at a quick pace, "Undertaker said that Grell seemed out of sorts. Like something had happened to him. Undertaker said he'd try and figure out what had happened so it could be fixed. He said he'd call when he knew something." Ronald stopped short of opening the lounge door, and appeared to be nervous once more, "Don't be mad at him. Mr. Sutcliff isn't in a right state of mind…" Ronald paused, and then amended, "Well, more than he usually is. He thinks that he is a cat. He doesn't talk, but he seemed to recognize me." Ronald didn't mention the part that Grell had also inadvertently been molesting him.

William frowned deeply at Ronald's words, beginning to have a bad feeling about this, "Are you sure he isn't faking it to get out of work?"

"Fairly certain. He has cat ears and a tail too, and they are real…I just don't know how."

"A tail," William stated, at a loss for what else to say. It seemed far too surreal to be real.

Ronald noticed that William appeared to be confused, and he opened the door and went into the lounge, "Come in and you'll see, sir."

William hesitated for a moment, before following after Ronald, and stared at the scene that greeted him. Ronald was standing near a couch, and Grell was on the ground next to him, rubbing his face against Ronald's leg. The younger reaper was looking very unhappy with this. Before William could say or do anything, Grell suddenly perked up and looked in his direction.

Grell let out a happy yowl, and raced over to William on all fours, before clinging to the man's legs as Grell proceeded to rub his face against the nearest leg.

Ronald let out a short laugh, relieved that Grell had left him alone, "Well, it seems like he remembers you too. Should I go and see if Undertaker has found anything out?" Not that Ronald had expected the mortician to have gotten anywhere with figuring out what had happened to Grell. Ronald just wanted to get away from the oddness of the situation. Which was saying something, as Undertaker was rather odd as well.

"Yes, go." Was the strained response. William heard Ronald leave the room, but was currently preoccupied with Grell, who was clinging tenaciously to him as he rubbed his face enthusiastically against the leg. William's face set as Grell moved his face higher, all but purring, and quite content. If Grell had been in his right mind, William would have smacked the red head over the head with his deathscythe.

William sincerely hoped that this was some sort of sick joke, and that he would be told so. Of course, that didn't happen, and William was stuck with a very pleased Grell. Who was making incoherent and lewd noises and rubbing up against William's legs, his face getting dangerously close to William's backside. William sighed, and before Grell reached anywhere inappropriate, the dark haired reaper managed to untangle himself from Grell. William fought the urge to sigh again as he headed over to a nearby couch and sat down. He really didn't need this right now. He was far enough behind on his work as it was. William didn't want to deal with Grell on top of that when the red head wasn't even acting sanely…well, less sane than he usually was…

Grell rushed over on all fours, and sprang up onto the couch, and abruptly sprawled his upper body on William's lap.

William stiffened at the sudden contact, and glanced down, seeing Grell looking up at him expectantly. Feeling a little bit foolish, William ran a hand through Grell's hair lightly, ruffling the soft ears lightly, and Grell leaned into the touch, eyes closing, ears and tail twitching at the touch. William shot a quick look around the immediate area. Once he had determined that there was no one nearby, William decided to go along with the strangeness of the situation, for now. William ran a hand hesitantly down Grell's spine.

Grell apparently liked this, because he arched up and stretched, his butt up in the air as the tail swished back and forth, clearly enjoying the attention.

William did _not_ want to see Grell's butt wiggling in the air like that, so he flipped Grell over onto his back, ignoring the happy exclamation Grell made at the way he was being treated.

Grell settled comfortably on William's lap, and used one hand to paw at William's chest, apparently wanting to be paid attention to and likely petted some more.

William frowned at this, and wondered how in the world he had gotten himself into this. With Grell pawing at him again, William shrugged to himself, and, wearing a dubious expression, ran a hand along Grell's stomach in a circle.

Grell leaned in close to William, making a sound of extreme pleasure, twisting slightly in order to make his stomach more easily assessable. When William stopped petting his stomach, the red head curled up more closely to William and drifted to sleep, tail draped loosely off the couch, ears down.

William resumed running a hand through Grell's hair, thinking to himself how calm Grell was, compared to how he normally was. It was almost…nice to be around him like this, albeit a bit strange. It wasn't as stressful as it usually would be, as he didn't have to say anything to Grell, or argue with him. It was almost…relaxing.

William waited out many hours in silence, petting the sleeping Grell absentmindedly, and wondering just how much overtime he was going to be in with this unexpected problem, as it was now evening. William glanced up as the lounge door opened, and Ronald entered the room.

Ronald wisely didn't say anything about the sleeping Grell on William's lap, "Undertaker hasn't found anything out yet. He said that it'd take a day or two at the most to figure out what happened and how to fix it.

"Keep checking back with Undertaker. I'll take Grell home with me for the time being, as I do not want him here for others to see." Not to mention William was feeling self-conscious about the fact that he had found he liked running his hand through Grell's hair. William shook Grell awake as gently as he could, and Grell yawned widely in response. With some coaxing, William managed to get Grell to follow him out of the lounge, and led Grell outside the building, away from headquarters. William decided he would return for the paperwork after ensuring that Grell wouldn't make a nuisance of himself.

William opened up a portal and stepped through it, Grell right behind him. Getting his bearings, William headed in the direction of his house, Grell keeping pace alongside him, occasionally bounding ahead to chase rats or mice down an alleyway. William was quite relieved that Grell hadn't managed to catch any of the filthy vermin. Who knows where they'd been. William didn't need a sick as well as out of his mind Grell to deal with.

William had nearly reached his home, when he saw Grell's cat ears perk up and turn his head, listening intently. Then, without warning, Grell bounded down the street. William quickly ran after him, for some reason having another bad feeling. William rounded the corner, and saw _that _demon backed up against a wall, looking incredibly frustrated. Grell was crouched on the ground, tail twitching back and forth. The Earl, Ciel, William saw, had covered his visible eye with a hand, and was shaking his head. William drew closer, and the demonic butler fixed him with a glare of disproval.

"Can't you keep a closer eye on your employees, reaper?" Sebastian queried through gritted teeth.

William blinked, and glanced between the demon and Grell, before looking over at Ciel, who looked torn between amusement and annoyance.

Ciel, apparently trying to decide whether or not to say anything finally stated simply, "Sebastian likes cats."

"Ah." That explained why Sebastian looked as if he were fighting an internal battle. If the demon liked cats, then Grell acting like a cat was probably trying his self-restraint…if demons actually had such a thing. William didn't want to see what would happen if Grell jumped Sebastian, as William had a feeling that Grell would come out of the encounter battered. William quickly stepped forward and seized Grell by the scruff of his neck, keeping a firm grip, mostly by way of Grell's long hair.

Grell yowled unhappily, ears going flat, as he tried to twist out of William's grasp and get to Sebastian.

Sebastian appeared to recover, and with an indignant gasp from Ciel, scooped the boy up and vacated the area. Sebastian couldn't stand it anymore, especially after Grell had started to make cat noises.

Once Sebastian was gone, William released Grell, who sat down and didn't move.

"Let's go, Grell." William said, turning and starting to walk away. He paused when he realized that Grell wasn't following him. Sighing, William went back over to where Grell was seated, "Come on, Grell."

Grell yawned, rubbed at his face with a curled hand, before flopping onto the ground, tail draping over his legs, seemingly content to stay there and see if Sebastian would return.

Twitch.

It was getting darker, and William had no desire to try to explain things to humans that might happen to see them. William knelt and picked Grell up, drawing forth a displeased hiss from Grell, who squirmed in his grasp, trying to get away, "He is not coming back, Sutcliff." Clamping his arms firmly around Grell's middle, William took the struggling red head in the direction of his house. After some difficulty getting his keys, William managed to open the door and toss Grell inside, locking him in the house. Grell immediately made his displeasure known by making a ruckus and throwing himself against the door. William ignored this and went back to get some paperwork from the office. As long as Grell thought he was a cat, William didn't have to worry about Grell figuring out how to open the door or windows.

-x

An hour later…

Grell was curled up on William's bed, a picture of absolute and utter misery; his tail tucked tightly against his body, ears lying against his head.

William didn't feel too bad, knowing that Grell would eventually cheer up once he stopped thinking about Sebastian, and started thinking about _him_…William blinked. Why in the world would he want Grell to think about him instead? Where had that come from?

Shaking his head, William bent over his paperwork again. He had returned minutes after throwing Grell into his house, laden with paperwork, and had found a miserable Grell on his bed. William didn't think Grell would remain depressed for much longer.

Two hours later, William's prediction proved true. As he was getting ready for bed, Grell had uncurled and was watching William button up his pajamas with a tilt of his head. Since he hadn't heard from Ronald or Undertaker, William decided to get some sleep. William settled down in bed, and stiffened as a sleepy Grell draped himself half on William, "Grell?" The response he received was a low purr, then silence. Well then…fine. As long as Grell didn't get well overnight and molest him in his sleep. William drifted to sleep with Grell, who had snuggled up closer to him with a yawn.

The next morning…

William woke to the sensation of someone touching his chest. William's eyes snapped open, and he was prepared to berate Grell, when he realized that Grell was kneading his chest with slightly curled hands, purring. Once he was satisfied, Grell settled his upper body on William's chest, and purred more loudly once he noticed that William was awake. William checked the time. He needed to get to work soon…William tried to sit up, scowling a bit when Grell refused to budge from where he was resting.

"Grell Sutcliff, I need to get to work," William stated, trying to push Grell up off of him so that he could get dressed.

Grell managed to keep him pinned down.

William had a silent struggle with Grell, until he was able to get into a seated position, with Grell draped across his lap. William wondered why Grell was being so clingy, when he noticed Grell doing something he most certainly shouldn't have been able to do if he were truly thinking and acting like a cat. The red headed reaper was trying to undo his belt. William frowned at this, his suspicion aroused. Grell could just be toying with the belt, but…just to check…

William scooped up a majority of Grell's long red hair with one hand, and he noticed that this distracted Grell from the belt. Okay then…William tightened his grasp on the hair, and spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, "Well, Grell Sutcliff, maybe I should give you a haircut while you're complaint. One that looks like the haircut you had back when we were in the academy perhaps?" William clinked his deathscythe , materialized out of nowhere, in one hand, angling it at Grell's hair. The response was instantaneous, and confirmed the slight suspicion William had.

Grell twisted in his grasp and freed his hair, seizing William's wrists, baring his teeth and glaring at him furiously, "William! You shouldn't go grabbing a lady's hair like that and threatening to cut it! Such a cold, cruel man~! I..." Grell froze in place, stopping mid-sentence, as he and William locked eyes with one another.

Grell offered a sweet smile, though he was inwardly frustrated. He had just blown his cover, when things had been going so well. Even now, Grell could see quite plainly from William's expression that the dark-haired reaper was not pleased in the least bit at being fooled.

X-x-x

I should have the second half up once it is typed and edited. At least I'm in the mood to write Black Butler stuff again, but it might take me awhile to get back to writing and finishing _Rain Noir_. I may even post another story to get back into the swing of things before going back to finish it.


End file.
